Corruption Index in Africa: Rwanda well ranked, but ... there is nothing to celebrate

Since 1995, Transparency International has been ranking all countries according to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Rwanda is among the first countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to appear in the rankings (48th) after Botswana (34th), Seychelles (36th), and Cape Verde (47th), while the two worst-ranked countries are South Sudan and Somalia. But, "there is nothing to celebrate," according to Apollinaire Mupiganyi, ES of TI Rwanda.

The report drawn up in its 2017 report is clear: "The majority of countries make little or no progress in stopping corruption". And most of the African countries are very badly ranked.

In 2017, the African continent remains the worst-ranked region in terms of perception of corruption, with a score of 32%. The two countries ranked worst by Transparency International are African: South Sudan and Somalia. And the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to appear in the rankings is in 34th place, out of 180 countries: Botswana, Seychelles (36th), Cape Verde and Rwanda (47th and 48th respectively), followed by Namibia (53rd) and Senegal (66th).

Worst again, deplores the NGO, "this poor performance is not new" compared to the results observed in previous reports. And for TI, there is a link "between levels of corruption, the defense of journalists’ freedoms, and the engagement of civil society."

An eloquent figure: in 2017, more than 9 journalists out of 10 who were killed in the world have been killed in countries whose score is less than or equal to 45.

• The importance of leadership: Botswana, Rwanda and Cape Verde
For the African continent, Transparency International notes that for top-ranking countries, they share a "political leadership that is constantly engaged in the fight against corruption."

"From the strict application by President Paul Kagame of the Code of Conduct in Rwanda (48th in the ranking) to President Jorge Fonseca’s open promotion of institutional transparency in the innovative approach of Cape Verde (48th) or President Ian Khama In Botswana (34th), "the integration of the fight against corruption", these countries learned better in their communities and pursued these tactics with commitment, " say authors of the report.

For Transparancy International, beyond the anti-corruption laws, the countries that are doing best are those that make "the extra step to ensure the implementation," the effective implementation, of these laws.

• The African Union must take up the problem
Despite the encouraging results of some pioneers, the situation is worsening in Africa. This is the case in Liberia, which has lost 10 points on the CPI since 2012. The country is now 128th on the overall ranking.

Former President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson mentioned it during her last speech to the nation. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the same, losing five places from 2016, now ranked 161st overall. Corruption in the mining sector partly explains this result.

Globally, Transparency International emphasizes that wars and conflicts in Africa remain one of the major obstacles to a favorable evolution of corruption. At the end of its report, the NGO calls on the African Union, whose leitmotiv for 2018 is: "Win the struggle against corruption: a sustainable path to the transformation of Africa". Transparency International urges the institution to "call on all its leaders to make a visible commitment to fighting corruption," and in particular "to consider investing in countries that have historically struggled with anti-corruption efforts, and show little or no progress, and in particular Somalia and South Sudan. Other bottom countries are Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen.

The top five are all Scandinavian: New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.

As far as EAC concerned, none of them is below 100th: Tanzania(103th), Kenya (143th), Uganda (151st), and Burundi (157th).